Orthodontic appliance and method of producing the same



Aprii 9, 1940. s. R. ATKINSON ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF fRODUCING THE SAME Filed Nov; 24, 1951 INVENTOR. Eflflzmson,

ATTORNEYS.

Patent ed Apr; 9, 194

METHOD" i 0F PRODUCING THE, SAME 7 E ,Spencer'R. Atkinson; Pasadena,. ()alif., assignor'fto Research Corporation,-New York. N.] Z.,'- a

v corporation of New York 7' Application November 24, 19

4 Claims. (c1 .-s2- 13i)"* This invention relatesptci orthodontic appliances and pertains more particularly to a device adapted for attachment to atooth band to provide an anchorage'or means of attachment for -awire or other like member used in orthodontic treatment, and to an advantageous method. of

producing such a; device.

The appliance 10f this invention, while "useful for attachment to toothbands in general, is pri- -marilyadapted for attachment on the lingual side of a molar tooth band; forv engagement withaa lingual wirepand whenv so employed is known as a single channel lingual molar sleeve.

The appliance of this'invention is zmnstructed "to provide a single channel which may be alined eitherhorizontally or verticallyor. at any other angle on a tooth band.( When alined horizontally itispreferably used so that an arch wire may be pass edthrough it on the lingual side of the tooth band and the channel is preferably of suflicient width to permit a wire to be bent "back on itself and the doubled wire to be passed 1 through the channel. When the bracket isar-i' ranged-vertically it may be used as a base to hold a ling'ual wire which has been bent back on itself and passed through the channel in a anchorage or U-shape to provide a point of In general, the

attachment for the lingual wire.

' device may be usedto provide a means-of attachment or anchorage for any suitable orthodontic device.

The single channel lingual molar sleeve of this f invention presents a marked advantage in that it is fabricated a minimum of simple bending operations.

The appliance. of this invention also presents: afurther'jadvantagein"that the wires-or other 5 means attached thereto are always spaced from the tooth band bythe thickness of metal used;

in the appliance.

. A tooth band isnecessarily made of relatively thin and soft metal so that it maybeb'ent eas ily to conform,, to the shape of a" tooth." Such bands are easily strained whenstressesfare imf Thus, if the arch wires. which parted thereto. present a relatively small bearing surface, di-' rectly contact the'bands, distortion of the band is liable to occur- This distortion isliable to .break the cement bond between the ,band'and from a singlepiece of thin metal' .and'may be formed into the requiredshape with tooth and promote tooth decay, andmay'also' cause .undue localized pressure on the tooth. It is a particular and important object of this invention to provide an orthodontic appliance shaving a wire-receiving channel in the formof a sleeve which is provided with a floor or. rear wall which is positioned between the arch wire: vand the tooth bandpand which is iormedfsof". sufficiently rigid metalto resist deformationor" distortion bypressur'e of the wire against it. This floor or rean'wall distributes the stressestproe 'duced bythe arch" wire over a large area of" the tooth band and minimizes strains.

' f important obJect of. the invention is to'pro 1 vide an appliance which may be bent to conform;- tothe' shape of atoothband .so as to distribute. the load or stressimp'artedzbythe, appliance over j a large areaof the-tooth band and which maybe readily attached to saidband.

Another object of" theainvention is to provide anfappliance'having tabv members which may ing.

A=further object of invention is toprovide -an.-appliance which when mounted in the prererred manner on'a toothband is provided with be easily attached to a tooth band by spot weldthree mounting'tabs of extended area which are separated. from one another in such manner .as

to provide a high resistance to both vertical and horizontal loads. a

tion will be brought out more specificallyin the following description or will be apparent therefrom.

The I appliance of this invention comprises: in

general a single piece ofv sheet metal formed to'i provide a longitudinally;extending wire-receiving passage which is open: at its ends to permit the passage of -a wire or the'like therethrough, a por- 35] channel; which is adapted to lie against and betion. of said metal providing .a rear wall of j said secured to a toothband; 'The walls of said channel are preferably formed to completely surround'the sides of said channel so as .toglimit relative transverse "movement of the wire or other member=with respect to the appliance, and (one or more mounting tabs are provided which;

extend beyond the position of the portions defin -I ing the channel and which-"are joined to such portions at positions adjacent the corresponding edges of the rear wall.

vInza preferred embodimenhthe deviceispro vided with three mountingtabs, one at each end formed as -a continuation of-the rear wall of thechannel beyond the ends thereof, and another 'formed as. a continuation .of the channel-enclose.

ingnwall meansand extending transversely; to the length of the channel. The three tabs are preferably formed tolie substantially in aeommon plane;;.although. itis desirable to' form the 253' a 1 Further objectsandadvantages of the inven-' I 7 ing plane surfaces or as lying; in planes, in the description and claims, that such a definition is device from sheet metal so that the tabs may be bent to conform-to the curved surface of a tooth band. Thus when the device is mounted on a tooth band, the tabs are .not'strictly in a common plane, nor is the surface of any one of the tabs necessarily strictly planar. .Itwill then be understood when the tabs are defined as havbroad enough to include any reasonable curvature which may be imparted to these tabs either them con during or after fabrication to make form to the surface of a tooth band.

The sheet metal from which the appliance is fabricated is relatively thin, from a practical 1 standpoint, and tough, and bendable, so that it may be bent into the desired form. At the same time the. metal is relatively thick and rigid as compared to the metal used in the tooth band. which is ordinarily formed of very thin soft metal. Thus the tooth band maybe fabricated from soft stainless steel of. 0.006, inch thickness While the appliance of this invention may be fab-j ricated from hard stainless steel of 0.012 inch thickness which becomes harder during the bending operations. .It will be seen then that the rela-v provides a rigid support tively rigid appliance for the arch wire and provides for a better control of the stresses imparted by an arch wire.-

It is believed apparent that'other metals may be used for the bands and appliances, such as goldplatinum alloys, and appliances of this invention are not limited to any particular metal.

I have illustrated my invention in the accom-I panying drawing, and referring thereto: Fig. l is a side elevation of an appliance according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section 2--2 in Fig. 1; v i

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the blank used to form the appliance of this invention; Fig. 4 is a side elevation taken on line 4-4 in Fig. 3, illustrating the method of bending the same to form the completed appliance; v

Fig. 5 is a top view of an appliance of this invention with its channel extending horizontally, mounted on the. lingual side of a tooth band encircling a lower molar tooth; i

Fig. 6 is a side elevation thereof; .Fig. 7 is a view corresponding to Fig. 5 in which I the channel is. alined vertically;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a modified form of the device;

Fig. 10 is a sectional view thereof taken on line ,Fig. 11 is a side elevation of another modified v form of the device; and

Fig. 12 is a sectional view thereof taken on line IE-42in Fig. 11. 2

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the appliance of this invention is indicated generally at l and comprises a relatively thin sheet metal blank formed to'provide a longitudinally extending wire-receiving 'passage 2 which is open at itsends as indi- I cated at. 3 and 4 to allow the passage of awire or other comparable orthodontic appliance there-. through, and whose sides are completely enclosed surround the sides thereofso as to limit the relative transverse movement of the wire or thereof taken on line i h l and the mounting tab H. I

and l3-arepreferably substantially rectangular other appliance with respect to the device. I The relartive dimension'sv of the wire receiving channel may be varied over rather wide limits according to the use of the device. Thus, if the device is used with a doubled-back wire, the height of the channel (distance between walls 5 and 3) would be approximately twice thewidth (distance between walls 5 and T). If the device is used with a. single wire theheight may be approximately equal'to the width? p In a preferred embodiment of the device as shown in Figs. 1 and ,2, three mounting tabs are provided; One tab is provided at each end of the channel 2, a'tab 8 adjacent the end 3 and a tab it adjacent the end 4. The tabs ii and ii] are conveniently formed as a continuation of the rear wall 5 in a longitudinal direction beyond the ends 3 'andt' of the channel 2. A third tab indicated at H is shown as extending transverselytothe length of the channel? and is formed as a continuation of the bottom transverse wall 3 which is bent parallel to the rear wall 5. The three tabs varcpreferably formed tolie in a common plane which is the plane of the rear wall 5. However, it is an important feature of this invention toformf this appliance from sheet; metal so that these tabs may be bent to conform. to the curved surface of a tooth band. i i

The method of forming appliances according to i this invention is illustrated in Figs.z3 and 4, and referring particularly to Fig. 3, a relatively thin sheet metal blank is shown as comprising a relap-leted appliancexshown'in Figs. 1 andy2. The blank also comprises a portion 43 extending laterally and centrally from, the portion l2 which comprises the material necessary for the topand bottom transverse walls 5 and 8, the front wall in shape. 'I'he'length of 'the'portion l2 determines the total. longitudinal-extent of the appliance and the width of this portion controls the width of the channel portion Zsince the rear wall 5' thereof is equal in ,Widllhtfl the portion l2;

channel The two portions l2 .30 .tively narrow, longitudinally extending. portionindicated. generally at E2 whichforms the rear I wall portion 5 and the tabs 9 and 1-0 of the com- .45 i The width of the member 13 in the direction of; the greatest length of the member 12 deter-J mines the longitudinal extent of the channel 2, and the transverse length of, the member 13 deor manual '1 that ablank of the general shape shown in Fig.

3.has been formed from sheet metal as by cutting, stamping, or the like, the transversely extending portion 13 may then be bent forwardly along the'dotted line 6a, then bent in thesame direction along the dotted line 7a to form the top wall 6 shown in Fig. 2, and then, again bent in the same direction along the dotted line 8a to form the front wall I; the portion i3 is then,

bent in the opposite direction to the other bends along the line I to. to form the bottomwall 8 and the transversely .extendingmounting tab H. It i will beseen that the bottom transverse wall 8 extends to a position adjacent the edge of the rear wall ivopposite the edge thereof to which the'top transverse wall 6 is joined, and that the tab H is secured to the wall. 8 at said position and extends away from the rear wall and substantially in the plane thereof. The dotted lines along which the bends are made are indicated" in is 2,196,515 a s y,

indicated generallyrat 3|. and is shown as comthe view of the blank in'Fig. 3 and theportions prising a longitudinally extending channel, 32 of included between. the dotted lines are numbered. to correspond to the. various portions of the fin- 1 ished applianceshown in Figs. 1 and'2. Dotted lines along which the bends are made arealso,

indicated in the full line-portionof Fig. 4 and in the dot-dash portion thereof which indicates.

thebends required to form the finished appliance from the flat blank. It will be. notedfrom aninspection of Figs. 1

to 4 that the finished'device may be derived from a flat blank by a" small number of simple bending operations. The .bends are preferably made at rightxang'les and three of the bends are made in j the same direction, while the fourth bend is made in'a direction opposite to the otherbends. The bending or forming operations may be performed manually with suitable instruments such as pliers or hand-operated dies or they may be performed :automatically with suitable dies, as willbe apw parent to those skilled in the art. Thus the appliance'of this invention lends itself to production procedures whereby a ribbon of sheet metal maybe fed into a die machine which stamps the blanks .indicatedin Fig. .3 andperforms the necessary I forming operations automatically.

The walls of the channel are preferably formed j soas to completely surround the channel 2, and the clearance indicated at M in Fig. "2 between the wall 8 andthe wall 5 is preferably kept at a minimum to preventthe wire carried in the channel 2 from entering this clearance space and contacting the tooth band. v

It will be appreciated that thev cross-section of the channel 2 shown in Figs. 1 through 4 is not necessarily rectangular and that the wall portions .(such as 6, 7, and 8 in the above-described form) which cooperate with the rear wall 5 to form the channel need not be formed by right angle bends.-

as comprising a channel 22 extendinglongitudi nally thereof and having side and front wall portions formed as a curved surface as indicated at 23 and spaced from the rear wall 21 intermediate the edges thereof. As in the previously described embodiment of the device, mounting tabs are provided which extend beyond the positions of the portions defining the channel. Thus mounting tabs 25 and 26 are formed as a continuation of the rear wall 21 of the channel 22 in a longitudi- .nal direction beyond the ends thereof, and a third tab indicatedat 28 is formed as a continuation of.

the wall portions 23 of the channel and extends transversely to the direction of extent of the channel22 and lies substantially, in the plane of the tabs 25 and 26. I

The appliance above described may also be formed from the blank shownin- Fig. 3,1thepor tions 25, 26, and, Zl'thereof being formed from the portion l2 of the blank and the curvedwall indicatedatj 23, and the tab 28 may be formed position indicated by 30, which corresponds to the line Ha in Fig. 3, in a direction opposite to the above-mentioned bends to form the tab 28.

Referring to Figs. 11 and 12, an appliance is channel or passage 2.

Examples of other cross-sections. which may be utilized areshown in Figs. -9' through 12.. Referring'to Figs. Sand 10, an appliance is indicated generally at 2| and is shown.

substantially triangular cross-section. I This appliance may beformedin exactly the same manneras the appliance shown in Figs. 1 and, 2 with the exception, that onetofthe, bending operations may be omitted, the. channel having three walls insteadof four. ,The longitudinally extending.

though it may be used at various positions on a tooth band and at any required angle to 'a'tooth, according to the particular orthodontic problem towbe. solved. A wire indicated at 43, such as i alingual arch wire, isshown passing through the channel 2 or the appliance I. The'wire 43 is shownbentback on itself at 43a so as to pass back through the channel .or sleeve as shown .at

43b. In some applications of the device, however, the wire 43 may pass only once through the The longitudinally extendingmounting tabs 9 and Ill are in engagement with-the tooth bandv42. These tabs may .be bent to conform. to the shape of. the tooth band and may besecured thereto by spot welding or soldering or bywothersuitable means. The tab l is alsosecuredto the band 42 at a position below the wire 43,-this tab. being fastened to the tooth band in the same manneras the tabs 9 and Hi. It will be seen that the walls of the channel completely surround the sides of the channel so as to limit the relative transverse movement of the wire 43 with-respect'to' the bra/cketand that the wire 43 is separated from the toothband 42 by the rear wall 5 of the, appliance I.

It will also be seen that the three tabs 9, "Land ll provide extendedmounting areas which distribute the stresses produced by the wire 43 over a wide area of the tooth band 42 and that these three tabs are separated from one another in such a manner as to provide a high resistance to both vertical and horizontal loads which may be imparted by the wire 43. The tab H which is formed as a bent extension of the bottom wall 8 of the channel, serves particularly to tie said bot- I tom wall to the tooth band. Thus the tab II when connected to'the tooth band serves not only to anchor the appliance tothe band but also serves to strengthen the appliance by preventing separation of the front and rear walls when stresses are applied thereto by a wire. The wire 43 is also spacedfrom the band 42 by the thickness of the metal in the bracket I so thatif the bracket is mountedon a vtooth band in sucha manner thatthe wire '43 tends to produce forces in a direction toward the tooth band the load produced by such-Iwire will be distributed along the length of the back' wall 5 and themounting tabs '9 and '10. This will prevent a centralization. of

. the load which is liable to cause undue stresses on the tooth 4| and pain tothe wearer.

InFigs. 7 and 8 I have shown a molar tooth 44 surrounded by a tooth band 45 to which is attached. an appliance i.

In this instance the longitudinally extending, wire-receiving channel thereof extends vertically and the mounting tabs 9 and Hi have been omitted. Itwill 'be simpler to take a bracket as shown in Fig. liand clip the mounting tabs 9 and IE to adapt this bracket to vertical mounting on a tooth band, than-to supply two or more types of brackets. It is appreciated that it will not alwaysbe necessary to clip ofi all of the mounting tabs- 9 and it but that portions thereof may be clipped oii to fit a particular situation. In this instance the bracket! is secured to the tooth band 45 through the mounting tab ll which may be soldered or spot welded to the band. It will also be appreciatedthat the bottom wall 5 also may be secured to the tooth band =l5'b'y spot welding, soldering, or brazing. This is usually done even in the cases when the mounting tabs 9 and H] are employed. The back'wall 5 may be spot Welded to a tooth band by placing one welding electrode within the band at a position opposite the rear wall 5 and placing the other welding electrode against the outside of the front wall I.

A wire has been shown at 46 in Fig. 8 and has been omitted in Fig. '7 for the purpose of clarity. The wire has been bentb'ack on itself in a U-shape as indicated at 41 and the U-portion has been passed through the channel 2 of the appliance. When the'device is used in this manner it may serve as an anchorage for the wire lli or it may be used for exerting directed forces on the'tooth 44.

The appliance of this invention is characterized by its simplicity, comparative rigidity, and its adaptability to numerous mounting conditions on the tooth band. Numerous modifications and changes will appear to those skilled in the art and I donot choose to be limited to the modifications shown and described'herein, but rather to the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An orthodontic appliance formed from thin sheet metal and defining a longitudinally extending wire-receiving channel, said channel having Walls forming substantially enclosed sides and open ends, a portion of one of said walls extending beyond one end of the channel in said longitudinal direction to provide a mounting tab at that end ofi of the channelyand another mounting tabformed as an extension of one of said walls and extending transversely to said direction and substantially in the plane of the first named'tab.

2, An" orthodontic appliance formed from thin sheet metal and defining a longitudinaly extending, wire-receiving channel, said channel having walls forming substantially enclosed sides and open ends, a portion of one of said walls extending'beyond each of said ends in said longitudinal direction to provide'a mounting tab at eachend' of said channel, and'another of said walls having a portion extending outwardly from said channel and 'substantially'in the plane of said tabs to provide a third mountingtab.

3. An orthodontic appliance formed from thin sheet metal and defining a longitudinallyextendin Wire-receiving channel, said channel having walls forming substantially enclosed sides and open ends, a portion of one of said walls extending beyond each of said ends in said longitudinal direction to provide a mounting tab at each end 01 said channel, and a third mounting tab formed as an extension of said walls andextending transversely to said direction and substantially in the plan'eofsaid first-named tabs.

4'. The method of producing an orthodontic appliance from thin sheet metal which comprises:

cutting a blank having a longitudinally extending portion and a portion extending laterally and centrally therefrom; forming the top and side 1 wall portions of alongitudinally,extending, wire-' receiving channel from said second-named portion by a'plurality of bends in a single direction, said first-named portion remaining substantially unbent and comprising the bottom wall portion of said channel and a pair of longitudinally extending mounting tabs extending beyond the ends of said channel; and bending the outermost portion of said second-named portion at a position adjacent said bottom Wall, in a direction oppo-' site to said other bends to form a laterally extending mounting tab.

' SPENCER a. ATKINSON. 

